We then recommend laptops that score the best amongst those 46 points, at different points price. This gives you “The Best Workstation Laptops For Your Money”.

The ThinkPad Edge E530, the best workstation laptop for $500, $600 and $750 (with upgrades).

A few reminders:

We’ll use this opportunity to remind you that this article is only a guideline for the prices we’ve seen on November 28th 2012. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you read this article:

This specific article on the best workstation laptops have nine (9) price ceilings for the recommended laptops: $500, $600, $750, $1000, $1300, $1500, $2400, $3500 and Up to $7500. We also suggest alternatives to our main recommendations, when they offer something interesting.

This list is based on the best U.S. prices from NewEgg, Amazon or the manufacturer’s website. We can’t keep up with pricing/availability, as they change everyday, but we do suggest to you great laptops that you won’t regret buying.

Prices are based on brand new laptops, not refurbished or open box; they might be a good deal, but they come with trade offs, such as missing accessories, higher failure rate, limited return policy, limited warranty, limited availability, etc.

When we compare two laptops, we’ll use the brand name as indicators. When we compare two laptops with the same brand name, we’ll use the model as indicators.

Summary

Click on any of these links to jump to the price point that interests you. Alternatively, scroll down to see them all, in the same order as this list.

Best Workstation laptop for ~$500

Why we chose this laptop:

Simply put, no other laptop priced below $500 offers the combination of a good Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a fast 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive, a numpad, a decent battery life, a matte screen, three USB 3.0 ports and Windows 7 Professional, all in a solid chassis with a spill resistant keyboard.

Ideal for:

– Users looking for a very low cost laptop equipped with a good CPU and with features found in a great workstation laptop such as a fairly solid chassis with solid hinges, dual pointing devices, a spill resistant keyboard, three USB 3.0 ports, etc.
– Users who are on the move requiring good battery life and a battery that can be swapped. If you want a lighter/more portable laptop, see the recommended alternative.
– Anyone who write a lot on their laptop, thanks to the good keyboard
– Using the laptop outdoors or in intensely lit rooms due to a matte display.
– Using the laptop on your lap, as it stays cool under load.
– Business who need laptops with Windows 7 Professional.
– Anyone that need laptops that are reliable, yet easy to service and upgrade.

To avoid for:

– Work involving viewing/comparing multiple documents due to a low resolution display.
– Users whose work involve highly demanding software due to the CPU that has only two cores with no Turbo. It’s no slouch, but it’s still no match for the Core i5 with Turbo or its quad-core counterpart.
– Heavy multi-tasking that involves lots of files in various programs, unlessyou upgrade the RAM to 8GB, 12GB or 16GB. Even then, the CPU might hold you back.
– High storage capacity requirements, unless you upgrade the 320GB hard drive.
– Video card demanding software due to the lack of a dedicated video card.
– Businesses which need on site support. Dy default you only get a one year warranty, but you canupgrade your warranty on Lenovo’s website.
– Professionals imaging requiring accurate colors.

Only 4GB RAM, but upgradable to 8GB by adding a 4GB stick in the open RAM slot. See the “Upgrade the RAM” section for our recommendations.

Comes with only one RAM stick resulting in single-channel as opposed to two RAM sticks with dual-channel. However, the performance loss is quite minimal, 5% on average, and this can fixed by adding a 2nd stick of RAM.

No Bluetooth

Poor color reproduction and poor viewing angles, due to a TN panel. Common on low-cost laptops.

While the keyboard is better than the average laptop keyboard, it’s no match for the classic Thinkpad keyboard.

No fingerprint nor smartcard reader.

No native docking option, but you can use the recommended Toshiba dock with it.

14″ variation:

You lose the numpad but gain mobility by moving from 14.84″ x 9.65″ x 1.16″-1.39″ / 5.4lbs for the E530 to 13.3″ x 9.2″ x 1.3″ and 4.9lbs for the E430. Otherwise everything else on the E430 is identical to the E530.

Best Workstation Laptop for ~$600

About the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530:

Note: The price represents the laptop configured on Lenovo’s website with the Intel Core i5-3210M 2.5-3.1GHz Turbo Dual-Core + Hyper-Threading as the CPU and the 6-cell Li-Ion 62WH as the battery.

Also note that Lenovo often have promo codes and limited-time sales with lower prices. The price listed here is the “standard” price, without any promo code or rebate.

Feel free to configure the laptop according to your needs, see our recommended upgrades section below the pros and cons for more upgrade suggestions if you don’t mind spending more. Upgrade prices are subject to changes, this is outside of our control of course.

Why we chose this laptop:

Like at the previous price point, no other laptop priced around $600 offers the combination of a relatively powerful Intel Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a fast 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive, a numpad, a decent battery life, a matte screen and three USB 3.0 ports, all in a solid chassis with a spill resistant keyboard.

Ideal for:

– Someone looking for a low cost speedy laptop with features that make up a great workstation laptop such as a solid chassis with solid hinges, dual pointing devices, a spill resistant keyboard, three USB 3.0 ports, fingerprint reader, etc.
– People who are on the move requiring good battery life and a battery that can be swapped. If you want a lighter/more portable laptop, see the recommended alternative.
– Users looking to work either outside or in brightly lit rooms thanks to an anti-glare display.
– Anyone who want to customize their laptop to their needs through Lenovo’s website.
– Using the laptop on your lap, as it stays cool under load.
– Anyone that need laptops that are reliable, yet easy to service and upgrade.

To avoid for:

-Work involving viewing/comparing multiple documents due to a low resolution display.
– Users whose work involve highly demanding software due to the CPU that has only two cores. It’s no slouch, but it’s still no match for its quad-core counterpart. This can fixed by upgrading the CPU though, see our recommended upgrades.
– Heavy multi-tasking that involves lots of files in various programs, unlessyou upgrade the RAM to 8GB, 12GB or 16GB.
– High storage capacity requirements, unless you upgrade the 320GB hard drive.
– Video card demanding software due to the lack of a dedicated video card.
– Users who’s work involves running high video card demanding software due to the lack of a dedicated video card.
– Business who need laptops with Windows 7 Professional (upgradable for $50).
– Professionals imaging requiring color accuracy.

Upgrades to consider for the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530

These are options that weren’t included in the price above, but that are to consider for additional performance or features.

Upgrading the CPU to to either the Intel Core i5-3320M (+$55 for an extra 100-200MHz Turbo) or even better the Intel Core i7-3612QM 2.1-3.1GHz Turbo Quad-Core + Hyper-Threading ($135). Upgrading the processor will greatly improve your system’s performance and upgrading to an Intel Quad-Core will drastically improve performance.

Upgrading the Operating System to Windows 7 Professional for $50. If you need some of the features that Windows 7 Professional offers, this upgrade makes sense. Otherwise, skip it.

Upgrading the RAM. It’s an easy way to future-proof your laptop and it will allow you to run many programs at the same time with no/less slowdowns. A good idea if you plan on using your laptop for high-end audio/photo/video/3D work. Consider upgrading the RAM yourself to save a lot of money; see the “Upgrade the RAM” section for our recommendations.

Adding a 720p Webcam for $30, if you want to do video conferences and the like.

Upgrading the stock 320GB 7200RPM to the 500GB (+$10) or the 750GB (+$60). Note: the higher capacity hard drives only run at 5400rpm vs the stock 7200rpm hard drive, so you’ll take a performance hit. Consider upgrading the hard drive yourself if you want a larger 1TB hard drive, a larger 7,200 rpm hard drive or a SSD for even higher performance. See our hard drive/SSD upgrades section for our recommendations.

Adding the “Micro Hard Drive: 16GB mSATA Solid State Cache Drive“. (+$40) Basically what this is is a low capacity SSD installed in the notebook’s PCIe Mini Card slot to improve hard drive performance through caching. Not necessary if you upgrade your hard drive to a SSD.

Upgrading the battery to the 6 cell Li-Ion Battery 62WH over the stock 48WH (+$10). $10 to improve your battery life by roughly 30% is definitely worth it.

Upgrading the Wireless Network Adapter to include Bluetooth ($20) or to the Intel Centrino Wireless-N2230 (+$20), or to both (+$40). Upgrading to the Intel wireless card provides better WiFi performance, as in higher throughput and longer range.

Upgrading the Warranty. The “Thinkpad” warranty covers damage resulting from drops and spills, while on-site warranty means that a repair technician will be dispatched to your location if the problem cannot be fixed after calling the customer support. Upgrading warranty if you can afford it is always a good choice.

Upgrades that are not recommended for the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530

These are upgrades that are not recommended, for reasons explained below:

“Upgrading” the CPU to either the Intel Core i5-2450 2.5-3.1GHz Turbo Dual-Core + Hyper-Threading or the Intel Core i5-2520 2.5-3.2GHz Turbo Dual-Core Hyper-Threading. Those are processors based on the older “Sandy Bridge” architecture and offers lower performance at the same frequency, while consuming more power. The Ivy Bridge successors to each processors are priced the same with the same or slightly higher performance along with an improved Intel HD Graphics 4000 video card.

14″ variation:

If you like the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530, but would prefer a more portable laptop with a 14″ display for the same price, the $589 – Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430 , configured with the Intel Core i5-3210M 2.5-3.1GHz Turbo Dual-Core + Hyper-Threading as the CPU and the 6-cell Li-Ion 62WH as the battery, is a great option.

You lose the numpad but gain mobility by moving from 14.84″ x 9.65″ x 1.16″-1.39″ / 5.4lbs for the E530 to 13.3″ x 9.2″ x 1.3″ and 4.9lbs for the E430. Otherwise everything else on the E430 is identical to the E530.

Lacks features, less rugged, powerful quad-core CPU:

If a quad core processor is must for highly demanding software, then the $580 – Acer Aspire AS5750-9422 is one of the lowest costing laptops equipped with an Intel quad core processor available. However, you do lose some features found on the ThinkPad.

Why we recommend Intel quad-core CPUs:

What about the AMD A8-4500M CPU, an AMD “quad-core” processor found in $550+ laptops? Although marketed as a quad-core processor, the A8-4500M includes only two modules with four integer-cores and two floating-point cores total. As a result, the CPU is not a quad-core processor in the traditional sense of the term.

More importantly, due its low frequency (1.9GHz) and not so efficient CPU architecture, the AMD A8-4500M has trouble performing on par with an Intel Core i3/i5 dual-core CPU, let alone an Intel Core i7 quad-core CPU. Simply put, due to its lackluster performance, we are not recommending the AMD A8-4500M for use in a workstation laptop, when Intel CPUs offer higher performance at a similar cost and on top of that, use less power, resulting in less heat/noise and longer battery life.

Less powerful, but far more portable laptop:

If you don’t need that much processing power and would rather have a much more portable machine, the $630 – Lenovo IdeaPad U410 (59351632) is one of the most affordable “ultrabook” class of ultra-portable notebooks.

Why we chose this laptop:

No other laptop priced around $800 offers the combination of a powerful Intel Core 7 quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, a fast 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive, a numpad, a decent battery life, a matte screen and three USB 3.0 ports, all in a solid chassis with a spill resistant keyboard.

Ideal for:

– Users looking for a low cost laptop with a powerful quad-core CPU, a solid chassis and features that make up a great workstation laptop such as dual pointing devices, a spill resistant keyboard, a fingerprint reader etc.
– Users who’s work involves highly threaded and highly demanding software thanks to the powerful Intel quad-core CPU.
– People who are on the move requiring good battery life and a battery that can be swapped. If you want a lighter/more portable laptop, see the recommended alternative.
– Users looking to work either outside or in brightly lit rooms thanks to an anti-glare display.
– Users who want to customize their laptop to their needs through Lenovo’s website.
– Anyone that need laptops that are reliable, yet easy to service and upgrade.

To avoid for:

– Work involving viewing/comparing multiple documents due to a low resolution display.
– Users who’s work involves running high video card demanding software due to the lack of a dedicated video card.
– Users who plan to be on the move often due to an average size and average battery life.
– Heavy multi-tasking that involves lots of files in various programs, unlessyou upgrade the RAM to 8GB, 12GB or 16GB.
– Business who need laptops with Windows 7 Professional (upgradable for $50).
– High storage capacity requirements, unless you upgrade the 320GB hard drive.
– Professional imaging requiring color accuracy.

Upgrades to consider for the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530

These are options that weren’t included in the price above, but that are to consider for additional performance or features.

Upgrading the RAM. It’s an easy way to future-proof your laptop and it will allow you to run many programs at the same time with no/less slowdowns. A good idea if you plan on using your laptop for high-end audio/photo/video/3D work. Consider upgrading the RAM yourself to save money; see the “Upgrade the RAM” section for our recommendations.

Upgrading the stock 320GB 7200RPM to the 500GB (+$10) or the 750GB (+$60). Note: the higher capacity hard drives only run at 5400rpm vs the stock 7200rpm hard drive, so you’ll take a performance hit. Consider upgrading the hard drive yourself if you want a larger 1TB hard drive, a larger 7,200 rpm hard drive or a SSD for even higher performance. See our hard drive/SSD upgrades section for our recommendations.

Adding the “Micro Hard Drive: 16GB mSATA Solid State Cache Drive“. (+$40) Basically what this is is a low capacity SSD installed in the notebook’s PCIe Mini Card slot to improve hard drive performance. Not necessary if you upgrade your hard drive to a SSD.

Upgrading the Warranty. The “Thinkpad” warranty covers damage resulting from drops and spills, while on-site warranty means that a repair technician will be dispatched to your location if the problem cannot be fixed after calling the customer support. Upgrading warranty if you can afford it is always a good choice.

Compared to similar laptops:

Vs. the ~$600 Recommended Laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad E530):

We’re comparing the exact same laptop, with additional upgrades for the $800 recommendation. Simply put, compared to the $600 recommendation, you get a faster quad-core CPU, a 720p Webcam and Bluetooth 4.0.

14″ variation:

Once again, if you like the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E530, but would prefer a more portable laptop with a 14″ display for the same price, the $744 – Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430 (equipped with the Intel Core i7-3612QM CPU, the 720p WebCam and Bluetooth 4.0) is a great option. You lose the numpad but otherwise everything else is identical to the E530. This makes for one of the most portable laptop equipped with a quad-core CPU.

Less USB 3.0 ports (1 vs the Lenovo’s 3) and less USB ports overall (3 vs 4 for the Lenovo)

Ultrabook-like lightness and portability, with notebook performance:

If you’re looking for a very lightweight and highly portable laptop, without sacrificing performance, the $920 – Sony VAIO VPCSA41FX/BI is an excellent alternative with a standard voltage CPU, a dedicated video card, a 13.3″ 1600 x 900 screen and a solid light-weight magnesium alloy chassis.

Best Workstation Laptop for ~$1000

About the Thinkpad T530:

Note: The price represents the laptop configured with the following suggested upgrades. Feel free to configure the laptop according to your needs, see our recommended upgrades section below the pros and cons for more upgrade suggestions if you don’t mind spending more. Upgrade prices are subject to changes, this is outside of our control of course:

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional (64 bit) (+$50)

Windows XP Mode: Windows 7 XP Mode – English (Free)

Display type: 15.6″ HD+ (1600 x 900) (+$50)

System Graphics: NVIDIA NVS 5400M (+$50)

Memory: 8 GB DDR3 – 1600MHz (2 DIMM) (+$80)

Pointing Device: UltraNav with Fingerprint Reader (+$20)

WiFi adapter: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (Free)

Also note that Lenovo often have promo codes and limited-time sales with lower prices. The price listed here is the “standard” price, without any promo code or rebate.

Why we chose this laptop:

This is the least expensive new laptop that comes with a workstation class video card (Nvidia NVS 5400M). It also offers other pros that you’ll appreciate in a workstation laptop, such as a backlit spill-resistant keyboard, a trackpoint, the optical drive can be replaced by an additional hard drive or SSD, Windows 7 Professional (64 bit), a fast 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive, a matte screen with a 1600 x 900 resolution, a fingerprint reader and an express card slot, all in a solid chassis.

Ideal for:

– Users looking for a very solid machine with a latest generation processor along with a workstation-class video card.
– Users looking to work either outside or in brightly lit rooms thanks to an anti-glare display.
– Business who need laptops with Windows 7 Professional.
– Anyone that need laptops that are reliable, yet easy to service and upgrade.
– Anyone who want to customize their laptop to their needs through Lenovo’s website.
– Users who are on the move requiring good battery life and a battery that can be swapped. If you want a lighter/more portable laptop, see the recommended alternatives.

To avoid for:

– Users looking for top of the line performance. Upgrading the CPU will improve the performance though.
– Professional imaging requiring accurate color reproduction. This can be improved by upgrading to the 1920 x 1080 screen, which offers 95% RGB coverage.

Upgrades to consider for the Lenovo ThinkPad ThinkPad T530

These are options that weren’t included in the price above, but that are to consider for additional performance or features. The upgrade prices are based on the T530 being already equipped with the suggested upgraded listed above.

Upgrading the CPU to the Intel Core i7-3360M 2.8-3.5GHz Turbo Dual-Core + Hyper-Threading (+$105) which is a faster dual-core CPU or even better, the Intel Core i7-3610QM (+$195) the Intel Core i7-3720QM (+$280), which are faster quad-core CPUs. A more powerful CPU is the best upgrade to increase your laptop performance. Avoid the i5-2520M, which is an older generation CPU and the 3520M, which is a dual-core CPU available at an higher cost than the quad-core i7-3610QM.

Upgrading the display to the FHD 1920 x 1080. (+$200). A higher resolution means more screen estate so that your screen can display more things on the same surface, improving your work experience. On top of that, the 1920 x 1080 screen offers 95% RGB coverage, for greater color accuracy.

Upgrading the RAM. It’s an easy way to future-proof your laptop and it will allow you to run many programs at the same time with no/less slowdowns. A good idea if you plan on using your laptop for high-end audio/photo/video/3D work. Consider upgrading the RAM yourself to save money as Lenovo charges a fortune ($260 for 8GB to 16GB!); see the “Upgrade the RAM” section for our recommendations.

Upgrading the stock 320GB 7200RPM to the 180GB SSD (+$230). A SSD will dramatically reduce boot and software load times and will make your system much more responsive too. Once again, consider upgrading the hard drive to a SSD yourself if you don’t want to pay the high prices that Lenovo are asking for SSDs. See our hard drive/SSD upgrades section for our recommendations.

Upgrading to the “Hard Disk Driver Performance Booster”. (+$40) Basically what this is is a low capacity SSD installed in the notebook’s PCIe Mini Card slot which improves storage performance by caching data. Unnecessary if you’re upgrading the hard drive to a SSD.

Replacing the optical drive for the 500GB 7200rpm (+$110) or the 1TB 5400rpm hard drive. (+$370). Replacing the rarely used optical drive for a storage drive is a great choice to get more internal storage, especially if you plan to replace the hard drive with an SSD. Not that hard to do yourself either, if you don’t mind doing a bit of search online to save on costs.

Upgrading the keyboard to the backlit keyboard (+$40). Comes in handy if you’re working in a dark environment.

Upgrading the battery to the 9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++ (+$50). This upgrade will give you up to12hours of battery life. Note that the 9-cell battery will stick out the back of your laptop. You can also expend battery life up to 30 hours by purchasing the $150 – Slice Add on Battery, which is an add-on slice battery. Do note that the slice battery lacks a pass through for the Lenovo docking station. In other words, you can either dock the T530 with the slice battery or you can dock the T530 with the docking station, but you cannot do both at the same time.

It also features two USB 3.0 ports, a backlit keyboard, a 1.3MP webcam, a 4-in-1 card reader, great wireless (Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235) with Bluetooth 4.0 and good speakers. The screen is encased in brushed metal and hardly flex, the top part of the laptop is brushed metal and the bottom part is solid plastic.

Battery Life Extender option: Charge your battery to 80% instead of 100% and it will retain 80 percent of its original capacity for up to 1,500 charges. Switching between 80% and 100% battery charge simply involves changing a setting in Samsung’s included software.

Only one RAM slot allows you to change RAM, the other stick of RAM (4GB) is soldered onboard.

It’s not as tough as the Lenovo T530.

Even more portable alternative with an IPS screen panel and a much longer battery life:

If you’re looking for a far smaller, lighter laptop with a very long battery life, the $1059 – Lenovo ThinkPad X230 is an excellent alternative. Its main downside is that it doesn’t have a dedicated video card, relying on the Intel HD 4000 integrated video card instead.

Note: The price represents the laptop configured with the following suggested upgrades. Feel free to configure the laptop according to your needs. Upgrade prices are subject to changes, this is outside of our control of course:

2.38lbs 11.6″ Apple Macbook Air

If you don’t need that much processing power and would have an highly responsive laptop that’s extremely portable, the $1045 – Apple MacBook Air 11.6″/2.38lbs laptop is a marvel of engineering that you should consider, by being such a relatively powerful laptop in such a small and light package.

Advantages of the Apple Macbook Air

Backlit keyboard (upgradable on the Lenovo)

Far superior storage performance (SSD vs 7,200rpm hard drive on the Lenovo), resulting in faster boot, program launch and improved system responsiveness. In other words, your system feels faster thanks to the SSD.

Like the Apple Macbook Air but want a better screen? Say hello to the $1083 – ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A-DB51, a 2.9lbs “ultrabook” equipped with a georgous 13.3″ screen with a 1920 x 1080 resolution and an IPS panel, for outstanding viewing angles and great color accurary.

Advantages of the ASUS Zenbook Prime

Backlit keyboard (upgradable on the Lenovo)

One of the best screen on the market: 13.3″ 1920 x 1080 resolution, IPS panel for outstanding viewing angles and great color accurary.

Far superior storage performance (SSD vs 7,200rpm hard drive on the Lenovo), resulting in faster boot, program launch and improved system responsiveness. In other words, your system feels faster thanks to the SSD.

Best Workstation Laptop for ~$1300

About the Thinkpad T530:

Note: The price represents the laptop configured with the following suggested upgrades. Feel free to configure the laptop according to your needs, see our recommended upgrades section below the pros and cons for more upgrade suggestions if you don’t mind spending more. Upgrade prices are subject to changes, this is outside of our control of course:

Also note that Lenovo often have promo codes and limited-time sales with lower prices. The price listed here is the “standard” price, without any promo code or rebate.

Why we chose this laptop:

This is the least expensive new laptop that comes with both a powerful latest generation Intel quad-core CPU and a workstation class video card (Nvidia NVS 5400M). It also offers other pros that you’ll appreciate in a workstation laptop, such as a spill-resistant keyboard, a trackpoint, the optical drive can be replaced by an additional hard drive or SSD, Windows 7 Professional (64 bit), a fast 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive, a matte screen with a 1600 x 900 resolution, a fingerprint reader and an express card slot, all in a solid chassis.

Ideal for:

– Users looking for a very solid machine with a very fast processor along with a workstation-class video card.
– Users looking to work either outside or in brightly lit rooms thanks to an anti-glare display.

To avoid for:

– Users who plan to be on the move often due to the laptop being rather large and heavy.
– Users looking for top of the line performance.
– Professional imaging requiring color reproduction.

Upgrading the RAM. While it will not provide additional performance, it’s an easy way to future-proof your laptop and will allow you to run tons of programs at the same time with no/less slowdowns. A good idea if you plan on using your laptop for high-end audio/photo/video/3D work..

Upgrading the stock 320GB 7200RPM to the 500GB (+$10) or the 1TB hard drive (+$170). Notice: the higher capacity hard drives only run at 5400rpm vs the stock 7200rpm hard drive.

Upgrading the stock 320GB 7200RPM to the 128GB SSD (+$280) or the 180GB SSD (+$330). A SSD will improve boot and software load times drastically.

Upgrading to the “Hard Disk Driver Performance Booster”. (+$40) Basically what this is is a low capacity SSD installed in the notebook’s PCIe Mini Card slot to improve cache performance.

Replacing the optical drive for the 500GB 7200rpm (+$110) or the 1TB 5400rpm hard drive. (+$370) Replacing the barely used optical drive for a storage drive is a great choice especially if you plan to replace the hard drive with an SSD.

Upgrading the keyboard to the backlit keyboard (+$40). Comes in handy if you’re working in a dark environment.

Upgrading the battery to the 9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++ (+$50). This upgrade will give you up to12hours of battery life. Note that the 9-cell battery will stick out the back of your laptop. You can also expend battery life up to 30 hours by purchasing the $150 – Slice Add on Battery, which is an add-on slice battery. Do note that the slice battery lacks a pass through for the Lenovo docking station. In other words, you can either dock the T530 with the slice battery or you can dock the T530 with the docking station, but you cannot do both at the same time.

Advantages of the ASUS Zenbook Prime

One of the best screen on the market: 13.3″ 1920 x 1080 resolution, IPS panel for outstanding viewing angles and great color accurary.

Far superior storage performance (SSD vs 7,200rpm hard drive on the Lenovo), resulting in faster boot, program launch and improved system responsiveness. In other words, your system feels faster thanks to the SSD.

Touchpad could be improved. Make sure to update to the latest drivers.

Some users report issues with the WiFi. Make sure to update to the latest drivers.

Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon Ultrabook

Like the portability of ultrabooks, but need something that’s definitely designed for business environments? That’s where the $1349 – Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon shines.

With it, you get a carbon-fiber roll cage, a spill-resistant ThinkPad keyboard, a fingerprint reader, Intel vPro, the ability to charge up to 80% battery capacity in only 35 minutes, a 14″ screen with a 1600 x 900 resolution and of course, the Lenovo red trackpoint.

Note that Windows 8 is selected by default, so make sure to select Windows 7 as the Operating System, unless you want Windows 8.

Advantages of the X1 Carbon

Far superior storage performance (SSD vs 7,200rpm hard drive on the Lenovo), resulting in faster boot, program launch and improved system responsiveness. In other words, your system feels faster thanks to the SSD.

Why we chose this laptop:

This is the least expensive new laptop that comes with an even more powerful latest generation Intel quad-core CPU, an equally powerful workstation class video card (AMD FirePro M4000 1GB) and a 1920 x 1080 display. It also offers other pros that you’ll appreciate in a workstation laptop, such as a spill-resistant keyboard, a trackpoint, the optical drive can be replaced by an additional hard drive or SSD, Windows 7 Professional (64 bit), a fast 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive, a fingerprint reader with a smart card reader and an express card slot, all in a solid chassis. Finally, it comes with a 3 years warranty.

Ideal for:

– Users who’s work involves viewing/comparing multiple documents thanks to a high resolution display.
– Users looking for a very solid machine with a very fast processor along with a workstation-class video card.
– Users looking to work either outside or in brightly lit rooms thanks to an anti-glare display.
– Storage upgrades, thanks to the dual 2.5″ bays.
– RAM (4 slots, up to 32GB) or storage (2nd 2.5″ drive bay + mSATA) upgrades

To avoid for:

– Users who plan to be on the move often due to the laptop being rather large and heavy.
– Professional imaging requiring accurate color reproduction. See the recommended alternatives.

Upgrades to consider for the Dell Precision M4700

These are options that weren’t included in the price above, but that are to consider for additional performance or features.

Upgrading the CPU to the Intel Core i7-3840QM 2.8-3.8GHz Turbo Quad-Core + Hyper-Threading (+$200) or to the fastest mobile CPU on the market, the Intel Core i7-3940XM Processor 3.0-3.9GHz Quad-Core + Hyper-Threading. (+$900) Upgrading the processor, if you can afford it, is always a good choice to get more performance out of your workstation laptop.

Upgrading to include the Fingerprint Reader. (+29) For another layer of security to your laptop.

Upgrading the display to the FHD 1920 x 1080 IPS. (+$200) An IPS display will prove you with much better color production and viewing angles.

Upgrading to the Nvidia Quadro K2000M 2GB. ($325) Upgrading to the Nvidia video card will not only bring more performance, but also drivers better optimized for business applications.

Upgrading the RAM. While it will not provide additional performance, it’s an easy way to future-proof your laptop and will allow you to run tons of programs at the same time with no/less slowdowns. A good idea if you plan on using your laptop for high-end audio/photo/video/3D work.

Upgrading the stock 320GB 7200RPM to one with higher storage capacity.

Upgrading the stock 320GB 7200RPM to a SSD. A SSD will improve boot and software load times drastically.

Upgrading the stock 320GB 7200RPM to a Mini-card SSD, potentially making your laptop have three storage drives. (Mini-card, 2.5″ bay, and optical bay)

Upgrading the optical drive to a slot load style. (+$79) The traditional tray load style are more prone to damage.

Replacing the optical drive for more storage.

Upgrading to a backlit keyboard. (+$49) Great for usage in dimly lit rooms.

Upgrading Warranty. Upgrading warranty if you can afford it is always a good choice.

Upgrading to include a mobile broadband card reader.

Upgrades that are not recommended for the Dell Precision M4700

These are upgrades that are not recommended, for reasons explained below:

Upgrading to the Nvidia Quadro K1000M 2GB. (+$150) Nvidia Quadro cards tend to be supported in more applications than their AMD Firepro counterparts, but spending $150 for a less performing card is hard to recommend.

Getting a 2nd hard drive to use RAID 0. Get a SSD instead, you’ll get a much higher performance boost, without the higher failure risk inherent with RAID 0.

If you upgrade the Leovo ThinkPad T530 even more than we have at the $1000 and $1300 price point, you can get the $1509 – Lenovo ThinkPad T530, which features a 1920 x 1080 screen, with an IPS panel and 95% RGB coverage, for greater color accuracy and great viewing angles, which makes it a great alternative to the Dell.

It also offers other pros that you’ll appreciate in a workstation laptop, such as a spill-resistant keyboard, a trackpoint, the optical drive can be replaced by an additional hard drive or SSD, Windows 7 Professional (64 bit), a fast 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive, a fingerprint reader with a smart card reader and an express card slot, all in a solid chassis. Finally, it comes with a 3 years warranty with on-site support.

Ideal for:

– Users who’s work involves viewing/comparing multiple documents thanks to a high resolution display.
– Professional imaging requiring accurate color reproduction.
– Users looking for a very solid machine with a very fast processor along with a workstation-class video card.
– Users looking to work either outside or in brightly lit rooms thanks to an anti-glare display.
– Storage upgrades, thanks to the dual 2.5″ bays.
– RAM (4 slots, up to 32GB) or storage (2nd 2.5″ drive bay + optical drive can be replaced by a 3rd drive) upgrades

To avoid for:

– Users who plan to be on the move often due to the laptop being rather large and heavy.

Apple Macbook Pro with Retina Display alternative:

Another option is the MacBook Pro 15.4″ with Retina Display which boasts the highest resolution ever on a laptop (2880 x 1800) along with a super sleek chassis. The pixel dense display also has far above average contrast and color production making this a popular choice for those who can afford it.

However, despite having a superb resolution, not every application supports the “retina” display. Such applications will have inconsistent image resolutions. e.g. Some parts of the software may look nice, but text, images, and buttons with lower resolutions will end up blurry and fuzzy due to interpolation (stretching of images to more than their maximum resolution). Although most developers confirm an upgrade to support the “retina” display, as of right now many important applications do not support the display. We invite you to read, http://techland.time.com/2012/06/22/10-mac-apps-that-need-macbook-pro-retina-support-and-pronto/ for a more detailed analyses of popular applications that do not support the retina display.

I’d also recommend avoiding the new 13.3″ Apple Macbook Pro with Retina Display, for one very simple reason: A dual-core processor in a $1700 laptop? Are you kidding me? Better off spending more and getting the 15.4″ Macbook Pro Retina with the quad-core CPU or save money with a standard display Macbook Pro.

Apple MacBook Pro vs HP Elitebook

Due to the differences in the way OS X (the MacBook Pro’s operation system) and Windows 7 operate hardware, it is difficult to directly compare the performance of the two laptops.

However, because the HP is equipped with a professional grade video card (AMD FirePro M5950 1GB) over the MacBook’s Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 1GB, and also because the HP has potentially much more and faster RAM and storage, we give the upper hand to the HP in performance.

If you want an Apple Macbook Pro but don’t need the Retina Display or simply want a less expensive model, consider the $1680 – Apple MacBook Pro MD103LL/A, which is pretty much the same laptop as the Macbook Pro Retina Display, but without the Retina Display and with a much lower price tag.

Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook: 3.63lbs ultra-portable

Like the Apple Macbook Air lightness and small footprint but prefer Windows? Say hello to the $1800 – Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C-A03US, a 3.63lbs “ultrabook”. Equipped with a relatively powerful Core i7 CPU, a 1600×900 screen and a 256GB SSD for ultra quick boot times (7-8 seconds from power up to the login screen), it is one of highest performance “ultrabook” available on the market.

Disadvantages of the Samsung Series 9:

Only 256GB of storage capacity, even less with Windows and pre-installed programs. You can upgrade the SSD yourself if you want to.

No professional video card (Intel HD 4000)

Micro-HDMI instead of HDMI.

RJ-45/LAN port requires the use of an included adapter, which offers full 1000Mbps speed.

No optical drive

No numpad

No Smart Card Reader

Somewhat fragile power connector

Some users report poor wifi performance, when running on battery power. This is due to the Windows power settings for the wireless adapter which is set by default to the maximum power savings setting. This can fixed by changing it to “Medium Power Saving” when on battery.

$1800 – Samsung Series 7: Powerful GTX 675M 2GB video card

If you want a laptop with a powerful Nvidia video card for CUDA and other applications that are accelerated by the video card, or simply want a powerhouse, the $1799 – Samsung Series 7 NP700G7C-S01US. Equipped with a latest generation Intel Core i7 3610QM 2.3-3.3GHz Turbo Quad-Core + Hyper-Threading CPU, a Nvidia Geforce GTX 675M 2GB video card, 16GB of RAM, two 750GB 7,200rpm hard drives for 1.5TB of high speed storage capacity, a 1920 x 1080 screen, a backlit keyboard and a Blu-Ray player, it’s one of the most powerful laptops available on the market.

Advantages of the Samsung Series 7:

16GB of RAM, in four slots(4x4GB), so you can even upgrade to 32GB (4x8GB) if you want to. Note that you’d have to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional if you want to upgrade to 32GB because the Home Premium version only supports up to 16GB of RAM.

1.5TB of storage capacity, on two 750GB 7,200rpm hard drives.

Two hard drive bays, but they are both used with a 750GB hard drive in each. You could swap a 750GB hard drive for a SSD to boost performance while still having plenty of storage capacity.

It also offers other pros that you’ll appreciate in a workstation laptop, such as a trackpoint, the optical drive can be replaced by an additional hard drive or SSD, Windows 7 Professional (64 bit), a fingerprint reader with a smart card reader and an express card slot, all in a solid chassis. Finally, it comes with a 3 years warranty with on-site support.

Ideal for:

– Users who’s work involves viewing/comparing multiple documents thanks to a high resolution display.
– Professional imaging requiring accurate color reproduction.
– Users looking for a very solid machine with a very fast processor along with a workstation-class video card.
– Users looking to work either outside or in brightly lit rooms thanks to an anti-glare display.
– Business who need laptops with Windows 7 Professional.
– Anyone that need laptops that are reliable, yet easy to service and upgrade.
– Someone looking for a solid warranty with on-site support
– Storage upgrades, thanks to the dual 2.5″ bays.
– RAM (4 slots, up to 32GB) or storage (2nd 2.5″ drive bay + optical drive can be replaced by a 3rd drive) upgrades

To avoid for:

– Users who plan to be on the move often due to the laptop being rather large and heavy.

256GB SSD (Solid State Drive) which offers far superior performance than a hard drive as well as far better shock resistance.

Very durable chassis with metal hinges

54mm express Card slot: Excellent for expanding ports in the future

Windows 7 Professional

3 Year Basic Hardware Service: onsite service after remote diagnosis

Noise cancellation microphone

Two open RAM slot for easy RAM upgrade, four RAM slots in tt

8GB dual-channel memory

Support for 1866MHz RAM

Tough chassis with metal hinges.

Decent battery life (4-5 hours) for such a powerful laptop

Bluetooth 4.0

Cons:

Very expensive

Heavy at 7.76 pounds

Wait time for custom building

Upgrades to consider for the Dell Precision M6700

These are options that weren’t included in the price above, but that are to consider for additional performance or features.

Upgrading the CPU to the Intel Core i7-3940XM. It’s an expensive upgrade, at $475 for an extra base 200MHz and an extra 100Mhz Turbo frequency, but it’s worth it if you need all the processing power that you can get.

Getting the recovery media (DVD) for $2. Comes in handy if you change the hard drive.

Upgrading the Warranty. Upgrading warranty if you can afford it is always a good choice. Consider the accidental damage protection warranty too.

Upgrading the RAM to 16GB or 32GB. To consider if you multitask a lot or work with a lot of programs and/or a lot of large files/projects at the same time. It’s also an easy way to future-proof your laptop. A good idea if you plan on using your laptop for high-end audio/photo/video/3D work. No point in upgrading to 1866MHz unless you run programs that specifically need more memory bandwidth.

Upgrading the display to the FHD 1920 x 1080 IPS Nvidia 3D. A 3D display is required for those whose work involves developing media in 3D.

Upgrading the storage. There’s two drive bays, a mSATA slot and the optical drive can be replaced by a drive. If you want a SSD for the performance and one to three hard drive for additional storage, use the mSATA storage for the SSD, you can add two hard drives for storage and if you want to, you can replaced the optical drive by a 3rd drive.

Upgrading the optical drive to a slot load style. The traditional tray load style are more prone to damage.

Replacing the optical drive for more storage.

Upgrading to a backlit keyboard. Great for usage in dimly lit rooms.

Upgrading to include Bluetooth 4.0.

Upgrading the Wireless Network Adapter to the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 2×2, or to the Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 3×3 to improve WiFi performance.

Upgrading to include a mobile broadband card reader.

Upgrades that are not recommended for the Dell Precision M6700

These are upgrades that are not recommended, for reasons explained below:

Getting a 2nd hard drive to use RAID 0. Get a SSD instead, you’ll get a much higher performance boost, without the higher failure risk inherent with RAID 0. Using two hard drives in RAID 1 can be a good idea to improve availability though. Just remember that RAID isn’t a backup solution.

Due to the differences in the way OS X (the MacBook Pro’s operation system) and Windows 7 operate hardware, it is difficult to directly compare the performance of the two laptops.

However, because the Dell is equipped with a professional grade video card (AMD FirePro M5950 1GB) over the MacBook’s Nvidia GeForce GT 650M 1GB, and also because the Dell has potentially much more and faster RAM and storage, we give the upper hand to the Dell in performance.

Non expandable storage, battery RAM; basically what you get is what you will ever have on the laptop

Less storage (256GB vs the Dell’s 500GB)

Less total USB ports (2x vs the Dell’s 5x)

No optical drive

No Ethernet (Thunderbolt adapter available)

No VGA (Thunderbolt adapter available)

No noise cancellation microphone

No numpad

OS X (Pro or Con)

Best Workstation Laptop for up to $7,500

Basically, take our ~$3190 recommended laptop (Dell Precision M6700) and apply any the recommended upgrades that are useful to your work till you hit your price limit. If you have any questions concerning any of the upgrades or if they’re worth it or not to your work, post a comment at the bottom of the page or join us on the forums and drop a question.

Alternatively, if you don’t know which options to pick and/or just want a workstation that’s fully loaded with pretty much every possible upgrade, the $7250 – HP Elitebook 8770w is what you want.

Upgrade your RAM, Hard Drive and/or Sound Card

Upgrade your RAM:

RAM can easily be upgraded on most laptops.

Simply pick one of the following recommendations below, depending on if your laptop comes with a single stick of RAM or two, or if you can have up to 4 sticks. You can find this information in the specifications for each laptop above.

My recommendations should be compatible with all the laptops recommended in this guide. I recommend to you memory sticks from the most reliable RAM manufacturers.

Important note: Windows 7 Home Premium supports only up to 16GB of RAM. If you want more than 16GB of RAM, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate.

Upgrade your hard drive:

You can also upgrade your hard drive to a faster and/or a larger hard drive. Alternatively, you can also replace it with a tremendously faster SSD (Solid State Drive), which also consume a tad less power than laptop hard drive, so replacing a hard drive by a SSD will slightly boost your laptop’s battery life.

Do note that most laptops accept hard drives with a 9.5mm height. The Lenovo Thinkpad X230 is an exception though, as it only takes drives with a maximum height of 7mm.

750GB, 7,200rpm hybrid hard drive:

It’s an “hybrid” hard drive, that is it comes with a SSD like cache, allowing it to perform close to a SSD when it reads from its cache. It’s all done automatically by an algorith that learns your usage pattern and improves the performance of often used files. It also speeds up Windows booting.

1TB, 5,400rpm hard drive:

As large as it gets for a laptop hard drive capacity. Not as fast as the two 750GB hard drives above, due to its slower rotation speed (5,400rpm vs 7,200 rpm) and smaller cache.

Upgrade to a SSD

Much faster program and game loading, meaning that you don’t have to wait as long for your program or your game to load.

A system that feels more responsive.

A longer battery life

A drive that’s much more shock proof than a hard drive

If you want to upgrade your hard drive to a SSD, I recommend to you the Samsung 840 Pro series line-up of SSDs, which offers industry-leading performance AND reliability. Not only that, but they also offer an excellent power consumption, resulting in a longer battery life on your laptop.

They include a CD with software to clone your hard drive to the SSD but they don’t include a SATA to USB adapter to connect your SSD to your laptop to clone your hard drive to it, to help you transfer the content of your current hard drive to the SSD, in order to minimize downtime and make your life easier. I recommend this one: $18 – Uspeed USB 3.0 to SATA Converter Adapter Cable

Windows 7 or Windows 8?

Released on October 26th 2012, Windows 8 is Microsoft’s latest version of the popular Windows operating system. While it uses the same core as Windows Vista and Windows 7, visually it is a departure from these two OS, using colourful tiles and a look often referred to as “Metro”.

While you can switch back to the classic desktop look, “Metro” loads up by default. The “Start” button and menu are gone too. While this will irratate some users, it is possible to have the desktop load by default and it is also possible to bring back the start button and menu by installing third parties apps.

Windows 8 offers slightly better performance and a longer battery life thanks to being a lighter-weight OS than Windows 7. The vast majority of applications that ran on Windows Vista and 7 should have no problem running on Windows 8.

For more information on Windows 8, there are countless reviews of it available online that will do a better job than I can fully describing the changes that it brings to the Windows OS.

Let’s address the obvious question:
Should you use Windows 7 or 8 for your workstation laptop?

While I welcome novelty and change, as well as the slightly better performance and longer battery life that Windows 8 offer, the “Metro” looks makes it less efficient to multi-task and switch back and forth between various open applications, which is problematic for a laptop used for work.

More importantly, Windows 8 is a brand new OS, while Windows 7 has been around for three years. What this means is that Windows 7 bugs have been nearly all fixed, while Windows 8 is crippled with bugs, as any new operating system usually is.

Considering these two points, I’d sticking with Windows 7 for now. Don’t get me wrong though, Windows 8 definitely brings some good changes to Windows and it has the potential of being a great OS for workstation laptops, but it still needs some time to get its bugs fixed to be reliable enough for a workstation laptop. Perhaps when its first service pack (SP) will be released, Windows 8 will be the OS of choice for a workstation laptop.

Conclusion

With the latest round of laptops released following the release of Windows 8 and with main hardware changes not expected for several months, our recommendations shouldn’t change much over the next several months.

In the second quarter of 2013, Intel is expected to launch their next generation of processors, codename “Haswell”, which should bring another boost in CPU performance and integrated graphic performance for laptops, as well as further reduced power consumption, resulting in even longer battery life. We’re still far away from Q2 2013 though, so if you need a workstation laptop now, you have our recommendations above.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this first edition of the Best Workstation Laptops For Your Money, co-written by Xai Her (Ichigeki), our “Best Laptops For Your Money” collaborator and Mathieu Bourgie, the editor-in-chief and founder of Hardware Revolution.

Of course, with this being such a large article (over 16,400 words!) with so many recommendations and alternatives, you may find some typos. Alternatively, you may believe that there’s a better option than our recommendation.

If that happens, feel free to leave a comment below and remember, you can join us on Hardware Revolution’s forums to discuss with everyone else the laptop that you’re planning to buy, ask your questions and join our helpful community.

About The Author

HR Founder - Computer expert with over 16 years of experience in building, fixing and modifying PCs.
Over the years, I’ve developed a passion for PC hardware and now I enjoy helping others build their own PCs!
In April 2008, I launched Hardware Revolution and ... Read more at my about page

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